Director Dan Trachtenberg‘s Prey sets its story 300 years ago to explore the Predator’s first encounter with Earth. It follows Comanche heroine Naru (Amber Midthunder), an aspiring tribe hunter that sets out to discover and thwart the mysterious threat lurking on the outskirts of the tribe’s territory.
Ahead of Prey’s release on Hulu on August 5, Bloody Disgusting spoke with Amber Midthunder about the extreme physicality of her role, her unpleasant experiences with mud, and how she had no idea Prey would be a Predator movie at all.
For Midthunder, Trachtenberg’s involvement and the Comanche aspect of the story enticed her. She revealed that the ties to the Predator franchise were kept secret at the outset.
“When this project first came into my world, I had no idea it was a Predator movie,” Midthunder explains.
The actress continues, “I read with Dan for the first time in February of 2020. So, it was well over two years ago. I just knew that it was a movie about a young Comanche woman who wanted to be a hunter and that Dan was directing it. That’s all that I knew. Then, it disappeared because COVID happened and then came back. And even still, when it came back, I had no idea. So no, it was just the character and the story elements and obviously that Dan was involved.”
Dialogue is scarce in the action-forward new Predator movie, demanding a physical performance from Midthunder as her character hunts, runs, and fights to survive her nightmare.
Amber Midthunder as Naru and Dane DiLiegro as the Predator in 20th Century Studios’ PREY, exclusively on Hulu. Photo by David Bukach. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
“We had a four-week boot camp that we all went through, me in Dakota [Beavers] and all the other boys,” Midthunder said of preparing for her role. “We did weapons, and we worked with the stunt team, a personal trainer, and all kinds of stuff. But also, there are so many parts of this movie that you can’t train for. You know?”
One of the most physically grueling moments for Midthunder involved a lot of mud, and it turns out that filming the scene tested more than her muscles. The natural mud pit where they filmed this scene took on an overwhelming stench.
“Okay. Something that I just found out that Dan said was that it didn’t smell like that until it touched human flesh. These are his words. Which, first of all, is such a disgusting way to say that. Second of all, it’s such a gross idea. I didn’t know that. I didn’t get in it until we started shooting, which other people had been in it to test. I had heard, ‘Oh, it’s not a big deal. It’s just water with leaves on top.’ I think they probably added more and made it worse or something.
“Then, by the time I got out there, it smelled like fertilizer. But then it was thick and gooey, and there were just twigs in it that were cutting. To get clean, I would get out of that and walk over to a dark tent with a horse trough. I would stand there, and four women would hose me down. They were so sweet and lovely. They gave me hot water because it was also cold. That was a wild experience when I think of the details.”
Prey arrives exclusively on Hulu on Friday, August 5th.
The post ‘Prey’ Star Amber Midthunder Had No Idea She Was Auditioning for a ‘Predator’ Movie [Interview] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.